M2 closed for roadworks between Brenley Corner and Sittingbourne (London bound carriageway) this weekend and the next two weekends.
Anyone travelling up the A2 for the M2 London Bound on Saturday was (in the words of Private Frazer) 'doomed'
'Doomed' to endured long, long delays as the Highways Agency closed the M2 London bound carriageway between Brenley Corner and Sittingbourne. Long, long queues built after Canterbury as traffic inched towards Brenley Corner and were forced to take the A2 Faversham route that was clearly unable to cope with such a volume of traffic.
I was heading for a quiet peaceful and friendly sporting event at Faversham. A journey that would normally take about 40 minutes. Approaching Brenley Corner I saw the stationery queue and managed to turn off to Boughton under Blean. Boughton Street was jammed packed, almost everyone had had the same idea or was just following their non-updated sat navs, so, reluctantly I turned round and headed along Staplestreet only to be met with a 'road closed' sign at the approach to Mount Ehraim (apparently some street carnival or the like was taking place in the village). A helpful marshall directed me through 'Mount Ephraim' to complete the three sides of the square that brought me back to the other side of the village closure. That was good, I thought, the rest of the trip would be better now.
'Doomed' again, as it became evident that the whole of the UK's car travelling population were attempting to get their quart into a pint pot of roads that were built for no more than a donkey and cart. Cyclist and walkers, some with pushchairs, were heading for their village 'event' along the narrow country lanes and could well have done without being intimidated by foreign objects moving from both directions at twice the speed of sound (whenever they could move at all). Traffic was going in both directions along these winding county lanes that only just lacked the ubiquitous line of grass up the middle (it was originally there so the donkeys could have a munch or two on their travels). Eventually I saw the Thanet Way ahead. Traffic on the A299 was progressing slowly towards Brenley Corner, so I cut off over the A299 onto the Whitstable Road. Jams again, crawling all the way to Love Lane and beyond.
I eventually arrived at my destination in Faversham, somewhat late but still intact. On the return journey around 6pm I could at least follow the regular route along the A2 to Brenley Corner once able to exit via Love Lane. The long line of traffic heading away from Brenley Corner was still in evidence with Canterbury Road into Faversham 'chocker block' nose to tail all the way from Brenley Corner. I was told that the same M2 closure was due to take place for the following two weekends. Perhaps serious consideration to avoid this area over the said weekends should be given by anyone heading along the A2/M2 westbound during the closures.
I always meant to visit Mount Ephraim Gardens but not quite like this. Mind you, I did see a lot of trees and hedges - some quite up close as my dashcam will verify.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.3022459,0.9359667,16.33z/data=!5m1!1e1
